affections those Prayers and Praises and acceptable Services wherewith she worships God daily and by having a Reverend esteem of those Orders and Constitutions which our Reformers established in opposition to Popery and which cost many of them their lives We see how great is our danger from the Church of Rome that she hath made Sacred and Religious the most severe and unnatural means that can be used to destroy us and that therefore we must expect no quarter from them that live in subjection to her who the more zealous and devout they are the more implacable and fierce they are against us being persuaded that by the punishing and extirpating Heresie they mightily endear themselves to the whole Court of Heaven and merit the highest rewards We see further that though there were not that danger yet we are in duty bound to avoid and oppose the Romish Religion which greatly wrongs the truth and honour of our God and Saviour and puts men out of the plain Primitive and safe way to Heaven and to endeavour the preservation and advancement of true Christianity as we have it by Gods blessing and the great sufferings of our Predecessors restored to us Therefore let me desire the good people among us who really have a love and value for the true Protestant Religion to consider that Popery is not what every one dislikes or is pleased to call so We have a sort of men who brand with as black names the innocent Ceremonies and necessary Decencies and Orders of our Church as they can do the worst Corruptions in the Church of Rome nay and all men that make Conscience of being conformable to the Laws under which we live and that are Friends to the Government Ecclesiastical and Civil are presently Popishly affected This palpably appears to be a design of them who once before under the same pretence did ruin King and Church and enslave their Country for these very men upon occasion when it is to serve a turn or to get an Office will freely Conform even receive the blessed Sacrament in our way which generally they had never done before but much slighted and spoken against and our present Constitutions in Church and State are so far from favouring Popery that they were made in opposition to it and have effectually kept it out above a hundred years and it is now clear by the Depositions upon Oath of the chief Discoverers of the Plot and by Colemans Letters that Popery is to be brought in if it can be by means of these very Sectaries who now would run us down for Papists and by weakning and abrogating those Laws and that Establishment which many Dissenters clamour at and fain would pull down This may suffice to shew well-meaning people the Snare that is set for us and to induce them as good Christians and good Subjects to help to maintain and defend the Established Religion in the profession whereof they may be as godly and as vertuous and good as it is possible for men to be here below in our state of imperfection Herein lies our Safety as well as our Duty that there may be a National Constitution and we may be united together in Religious Bonds under our lawful Governours It adds much to the strength and credit of the Church of Rome that the Members thereof are governable or at least governed and kept under one Rule whereas it brings disgrace and threatens ruin to the Reformation to have some that would be called Protestants perpetually contending with their Governours endeavouring to shake off their Yoke always objecting and struggling against Laws and publick Orders and entertaining such Principles of Libertinism as divides them into Sects and Factions This is so contrary to the common notion of true Godliness and to that meek spirit which the Gospel so much recommends that I hope God will open the eyes of such as truly fear him and have no ill designs and make them see how much it is for the interest of their present and future happiness to joyn with our Church to defend it and live in it like good Christians and loyal Subjects as all the ties of Religion and Conscience oblige them to do They that now aim at a change brought one about within these forty years most fatal and infamous to the Protestant cause and the good people were infinitely cheated and paid very dear for the overturning that Government in Church and State under which they might have lived very innocent and very happy in comparison to what they did in that bloudy and unnatural War and Usurpation which I hope is not yet forgot but will ever be a caution to all good men amongst us to endeavour for the preservation of our peace and settlement That having such a truly Christian Religion as we have and so gracious a Government we may not use our liberty for a cloak of Maliciousness nor abuse by a froward and unthankful humour those great and special mercies we enjoy nor provoke God to bring upon us and our Land the Superstitions and Cruelties of the Roman Church From which good Lord deliver us and all thy Servants for ever Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS THe Introduction p. 1 CHAP. I. Of the Roman Faith as distinct from the Christian and truly Catholick and first of the new Creed p 3 Sect. 2. General Reflections on this Roman Creed p. 9 Sect. 3. That this new Creed makes the distinction betwixt Papists and other Christians p. 12 CHAP. II. Of several parts of the Roman Worship and first of their Exorcisms p. 20 Sect. 1. Of their many Consecrations p. 24 Sect. 2. Of their Mass p. 27 Sect. 3. Of their worship of Images and Saints p. 30 CHAP. III. How the Inquisition came to be established and first of the Oaths and Excommunications wherewith they tie the Consciences of men p. 44 Sect. 1. Of the beginnings of the Inquisition p. 50 Sect. 2. Of Dominic the first Inquisitor p. 54 Sect. 3. Of the first making of Familiars or armed Officers or Bailiffs for the Holy Tribunal p. 59 CHAP. IV. Of the first that suffered the Rigours of the Inquisition p. 62 Sect. 1. Of the Waldenses and the proceedings against them p. 66 CHAP. V. Of the restoring of the Inquisition p. 76 Sect. 1. The erecting of the Spanish Inquisition p. 78 Sect. 2. The setling the Inquisition in Portugal and elsewhere p. 81 CHAP. VI. Of several Tumults and oppositions against the Inquisition p. 84 CHAP. VII Of the ordering of the Inquisition p. 90 Sect. 1. The Bull of Sixtus Quintus about the new modelling of the Inquisition p. 95 CHAP. VIII Of the proceedings of the Inquisition p. 101 Sect. 1. Of the Accusations p. 104 Sect. 2. Of proceeding by way of Inquisition p. 109 Sect. 3. Of the Inquisitors Visitation p. 113 CHAP. IX Of the intermedial proceedings betwixt the apprehension and the torture p. 116 Sect. 1. Of the being brought to the Bar p. 118 Sect. 2. How the Prisoners Estate is seized upon p. 122 Sect. 3. Of the tedious and sad condition of the Prisoner p. 126 CHAP. X. Of the Tortures and what relates to them p. 130 Sect. 1. Of some preparations previous to the Torture p. 132 Sect. 2. Of the ways of Torturing p. 137 Sect. 3. Of repeating the question p. 140 CHAP. XI Of reconciling and dismissing Penitents p. 144 Sect. 1. Of the Cautions of the Friers when they absolve an Heretick p. 146 Sect. 2. Forms of Sentences p. 150 CHAP. XII Of the condemning of Hereticks that are to be burnt p. 156 Sect. 1. A Sentence in some Relapses p. 160 Sect. 2. A form of delivering a stubborn Heretick to the Secular Power p. 166 CHAP. XIII Of the Enormity and further punishment of the Crime of Heresie p. 171 Sect. 1. Of the vileness of Heretical Pravity p. 175 Sect. 2. Of several Inflictions upon Hereticks p. 182 Sect. 3. That in the Case of Heresie Princes fare no better than Subjects p. 189 Sect. 4. Of the Authorities and Authors cited in this Book p. 193 CHAP. XIV Of several things that conduce to make the Inquisition powerful and glorious p. 200 Sect. 1. Some Priviledges of the Inquisitors and cruelties committed or occasioned by them p. 206 Sect. 2. Of the prohibiting of Books and the Indices Expurgatorii p. 213 Sect. 3. Of the honour of being employed in the Holy Office and the praises of it p. 227 CHAP. XV. The Conclusion p. 133 ERRATA PAge 5. line 6. after explain add them p. 44. l. penult for her read his p. 55. l. 25. for St. r. that p. 56. l. 13. r. decease p. 64. l. 3. r. were p. 64. l. 17. r. Bearn p. 66. l. 7. for 80. r. 30. p. 67. l. 23. after that r. it is p. 76. for 47. r. 4th p. 119. l. 26. been is transposed p. 155. l. 3. r. sowed p. 157. for him r. them p. 170. l. 16. r. accordingly p. 206. in tit Sect. 1. for it r. them p. 219. l. 21. for and r. any
THE Holy Inquisition Wherein is Represented What is the RELIGION OF THE CHURCH OF ROME And how they are dealt with that Dissent from It. LONDON Printed for Joanna Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Pauls Church-yard 1681. TO THE Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in God HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of his Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council My Lord THough with great zeal and prudence you use all the power which your Birth and Dignities have given you for the defence of the true Christian Religion as it is amongst us professed and established yet I hope this short account of what is most contrary and most destructive to it will not displease you I know your Lordship understands what is here treated of far better than I do but so doth not the Common People they may receive information from these Papers and will likely do it the more freely if you shall permit them to go abroad under your Name For it is generally acknowledged that we owe much of our preservation to your Care and Christian Courage and that you did stand in the gap when our Enemies were pressing to come in upon us My Lord the watchfulness and labours of your Sacred Order to preserve the face of a Church and as much Order and Discipline among us as the iniquity of the times can permit is a greater service to the Protestant Interest than many are apt to believe For our Adversaries expect not to prevail but by breaking of us and dissolving those bonds of Government which keep us united well knowing that those sheep are an easie prey when scattered abroad which under the guidance of their proper Pastors are safe and impregnable I have therefore endeavoured by what I have said of the Superstitions and cruelties of Rome to persuade such as are averse to them that their duty and interest oblige them to joyn with our Church which professing nothing but the pure and Primitive Religion of our blessed Redeemer makes use of none of those bloudy and violent Methods wherewith the Papal Religion and Authority are preserved and whose dangers and persecutions on both hands are for the best Cause in the world even for her faithful Allegeance to God and the King I shall rejoyce if what I have designed for the common good be beneficial to any And if the humble offer I make of it to your Lordship be favourably accepted However I shall ever pray for the peace and prosperity of our Jerusalem And that God would long preserve you to advance his glory and be an Ornament and Support to this Church Remaining My Lord Your Lordships most dutiful and obedient Servant L. B. THE PREFACE IT cannot but grieve every Lover of peace that is every good man to see our distractions We fear many things and have reason to fear yet many more especially when we consider how grievously God is provoked to bring upon us the worst of evils I design not to represent those crying sins that call for destroying vengeance upon us or to make declamations against them but it is for my purpose to note that the deforming a most pure and pious Reformation and the disturbing and weakening an equitable and happy frame of Government doth not only call for ruin but actually brings it breaks down the fence of our safety and so makes way for those Erroneous and Tyranical impositions we fear and foresee There is cause enough to believe that the Romish Party hath all along since the Reformation and doth still continue to widen our breaches and to foment our divisions there are many instances of it related by several credible Witnesses and some of them sworn too but that which most of all confirms it is that it is much their interest to keep us from ever having a happy peaceable and well-setled Church a constant and beautiful Order amongst us and that they certainly will not sâ—â—ck at dissembling and acting the part of zealous and scâ—â—pulous Dissenters to promote the ruin of them whom they would out right massaâ—râ—e and burn had they power so to do Some of our Seperatists are so ungrounded and have so poor an interest in the wâ—rld that they must of necessity yield and fall were they not supported by the power and policy of a stronger Party and the moderate sort of them are so near us that we could not but joyn and unite together were it not for their interposition whose great concern it is to keep us asunder that they may have room to come in at the void urguarded space betwixt both Whether or no it shall succeed as they would God alone knows they have great hopes and we cannot but have a dread upon us but however by breaking us to pieces they revenge our breaking of Communion with them and they likely tempt some to believe that we separated from the Church of Rome upon the same grounds as the Separatists have to leave the Church of England They will now and then draw a parellel betwixt both Cases and confidently assert that we can urge nothing against our Schismatick but what they may urge with as much reason against our Reformers It is no small advantage to their Cause if they can work in Dissenters as great an abhorrence for our Liturgy and Divine Service as for the Latin Mass and so bring them to an indifference as though there were hardly any choice betwixt both This will lessen the Odium under which they lie deriving part of it upon our Church and withal is a preity sure way to bring men bach again to Rome So that if I were a Jesuit I would as Lewis Moulin and some such as he so cry out upon the Superstitions bloudy Persecutions and Idolatries of the Church of England and by that means drive men so far from it that when things tend towards a change the people might either be undetermined what Party to take or even prefer Popery to so deform a Reformation as they should believe ours to be And accordingly it is easie to observe that those Sectaries are not far from Rome which are farthest from the Church of England The Jesuits Schools abroad are full of our Youth in the Low Countries in France in Spain and at Rome the English Seminaries are perpetually fitting up young men to carry on the great work of reducing this potent Island to the See of Rome Once every year they are sent over in numerous Sholes from those Colleges not directly and openly to preach Popery they are too wise to go that way to work but by other means to promote its restauration acting such parts bare-faced or in a disguise as they are enabled by their Genius and interest such to be sure as shall conduce to the disturbance and destruction of that Church and Government which now keeps them out Hence I make no question proceeds the beginning or the continuance of our divisions and the frequent insulting over us upon this
should be unable to proceed or doubtful what to do they should acquaint the General who instructed by him would find to every evil a proper remedy So far it was well and this might have done much but afterwards Celestine V. let it fall and made no General and the Office became very uncertain many after-Popes neglecting it as Celestine had done till at last Paul III. who died in love with the Inquisition and in commending of it annexed the Generalship to certain Cardinals and so fixed and appointed it that it hath never been discontinued since And now in spight of all former cruelties and oppositions the Reformation of Religion having appeared and made great progress Inquisition was to stand in great stead Heresies did spread far and near and even in Spain and Italy were like to prevail wherefore it behoved the Pope to ply hard his powerful Engine when all lay at stake and no other means could prevent what he so much dreaded the restoring of things to their Primitive state The Court of Rome therefore did then study to make the Holy Tribunal as useful and serviceable as might be To this purpose the Canonists were set upon to state the Case of Heresie and shew what ways the Inquisitors might best find it out and most severely and compendiously punish and exterminate it And in this they became very prolix and a world of them about that time in Spain and Italy writ Volumes upon this subject Then also came out many Bulls for the ordering and encouraging of the Inquisition to enlarge its power and privileges Bariola and Pegna famous for their skill in those affairs reckon above 110 for about the space of thirty or forty years from the time of Hadrian VI. who was Pope anno 1522. till their own time all which Bulls were for the welfare of the Inquisition and the ruin of Hereticks To the same end it was appointed by the said Paul III. that the most important concerns of the Inquisition should on Thursdays in every Week be debated in presence of his Holiness that his blessing and direction might prosper them the better Vt faciliorem exitum habeant negotia Inquisitionis This continues to this day from the year 1539. and contributes much to the great honour and esteem of the Inquisitors and to the quick and happy success of their proceedings As also that afterwards Sixtus Quintus having divided the College of Cardinals into fifteen Congregations to expedite the various Affairs of Christendom assigned to the first and chiefest of those Congregations which consisteth of six or seven Cardinals one Commissary General and a General Assessor of the Holy Office the care of such things as relate to it but this he rather restored than instituted as appears by his Patent to this purpose which contains many things remarkable and so I set it down at large SECT I The Bull of Sixtus Quintus about the new Modelling of the Inquisition ANno 1587. In primis igitur quoniam fides sine qua impossibile est placere Deo totius spiritualis aedificationis fundamentum est cupientes hoc praeciosum depositum quod nobis potissimum à Christo Domino in Beato Petro Apostolo est creditum adversus omnes inferorum portas integrum inviolatumque custodire Congregationem sanctae Inquisitionis Haereticae pravitatis magna praedecessorum nostrorum providentia tanquam firmissimum Catholicae fidei propugnaculum in Vrbe institutum cui ob summam rei gravitatem Romanus Pontifex praesidere solet Nos quoque confirmamus corroboramus illius omnia instituta omnesque singulas facultates à Romanis Pontif. Praedeces nostris Cardinalibus ad eam congregationem pro tempore delectis Concessas Omnemque authoritatem potestatem eis communicatam scilicet inquirendi procedendi sententiandi definiendi in omnibus causis tam haeresim manifestam quam schismata Apostatiam à fide Magiam sortelegia divinationes sacramentorum abusus quaecunque alia quae etiam praesumptam haeresim sapere videntur concernentibus non solum in Vrbe statu temporali nobis huic sanctae sedi subjecto sed etiam in universo terrarum orbe ubi Christiana viget Religio super omnes Patriarchas Primates Archiepiscopos Episcopos alios inferiores ac Inquisitores quocunque privilegio illi suffulti sint quorum ac aliorum praedictorum series his nostris literis ad verbum expressa censeatur confirmamus Ea denique omnia quae per eosdem praedecessores circa candem Congregationem illius jurisdictionem authoritatem decreta fuerunt nos itidem statuimus atque decernimus Exceptiones quoque immunitates privilegia atque indulta etiam ejusdem officii ministris vel in hunc usque diem concessu usuque recepta pariter approbamus obnixe in domino hortantes per viscera misericordiae Jesu Christi per ejusdem tremendum judicium obtestantes charissimos in Christo filios nostros in Imperatorem electum omnésque Reges ac dilectos Filios Nobiles viros Rerum-publicarum aliosque duces illisque regendis administrandis praepositos ac singulos orbis terrarum principes magistratus quibus gladii saecularis potestas ad malorum vindictam à Deo est tradita per eam ipsam quam se tueri promiserunt Catholicam fidem ut sic suas quisque partes sive in praestando ministris praedictis auxilio sive in criminum post ecclesiae sententiam animadversione interponat quod eos pro eorum pietate libenter facturos confidimus ut eorum quoque praesidio ministri ipsi tantum munus tamque salutiferum pro Regis aeterni gloria ac Religionis incremento feliciter exequantur cujus pii Christianique obsequii principes ipsi Magistratus amplissimum à Domino praemium recepturi sunt in aeternae beatudinis Consortio Catholicae Fidei assertoribus defensoribus praeparatum In his autem omnibus nostra est intentio ne in officio sanctae Inquisitionis in Regnis Dominiis Hispaniarum sedis Apostolicae authoritate superioribus temporibus instituto ex quo uberes in agro Domini fructus indies prodire conspicimus nobis aut successoribus nostris inconsultis aliquid innovetur In English thus Sixtus Quintus c. First because that Faith without which it is impossible to please God is the foundation of the whole spiritual building we desiring to preserve intire and inviolable against all the gates of Hell that precious depositum which our Lord Christ hath committed chiefly to our trust in the person of holy Peter the Apostle do therefore confirm and corroborate the Congregation of the Holy Inquisition against Heretical Pravity which Congregation by the wisdom and great prudence of our Predecessors hath been instituted in this City as the strongest Bull-wark of the Catholick Faith and over the which the Roman Popes are to preside by reason of the great importance of the matter As we also confirm and strengthen all the several rights and faculties
domini in haeresim manifestam sint Capti That Vassals and all Subjects are free from all allegeance and duty to their Lords or Sovereigns if they are faln into manifest Heresie Nay It is proved by many Authorities and good Decretals and Reasons Quod digni sunt majori supplicio Reges Principes Haeretici quam caeteri homines That Kings and Princes become Hereticks deserve greater punishments than inferiour persons And not only if they become Hereticks but also Si domini temporales constitutiones Pontificias contra Haereticos latas servare noluerint excommunicentur omni honore officio priventur If they do not execute the Popes Laws against Hereticks they forfeit their Crowns and Dignities This is so often repeated Si Reges alii Principes Christiani facti sint Haeretici protinus subjecti vassalli ab eorum dominio liberantur And this De Haeresi damnatus non debet vocari sub nomine dignitatis pristinae A King who is an Heretick is no King and ought not to be called by that name That one that hath truly and fully embraced Popery might act and intend any thing against Charles Stuart and all the while in a sense which he believes true profess himself a loyal and obedient subject to the King of England SECT IV. Of the Authorities and Authors used in this Book MOst of what hath been said of the proceedings of the Popes and the Inquisition against Hereticks and Heretical Princes is to be met with in so many Authors and with so little variation and recurrs so often that to bring quotations for every particular would have swelled and crowded my Margin to no purpose at all when it may do as well here to name those Books which will prove what I have alledged Indeed most of it is so unreasonable so strange and inhuman that to men of a good temper it will look like the Fiction of a malicious and a melancholy brain Did many that are in the Church of Rome believe it to be guilty of such unnatural Principles and bloudy Practices as are here mentioned they would be mightily staggered in their belief of its being the pure and only Church of Christ and some would forsake and even detest the communion of that merciless persecuting party who now with a good zeal follow it and think to go right Many Protestants also would be mightily confirmed in that Profession of the Christian Religion which is established among us and would be more thankful for being delivered from under the Roman yoke if they knew how heavy and intolerable it was to such of our Forefathers as saw the Truth and desired to follow it I know it is objected that we have those amongst us who are very froward and seditious towards their Governours and upon Rebellious Principles have done very vile things But it is our unhappiness and our grief our established Church and Religion are hated and persecuted by them and were by them altered and ruined when they had power and it is clear as the light that they have their ill Principles out of those very Roman Schools which they seem so much to abhor In them are taught at large those opinions which make Dissenters bad Subjects and those which countenance the usurpations of the Popes and the cruelties of the Inquisition I profess that what I have laid down as their Tenents or Practices I have had from their own Authors and that in them I have consulted there is vastly more and sometimes worse than what I have extracted I shall be amply justified as to the faithfulness of what account I give of the Papal and inquisitory proceedings against Hereticks be they Princes or Plebeians by them shall read the Canon Law or but seek under proper Titles in the Extravagants Clementines Sexte and even in the Decretals of Gregory IX But in that vast Collection of the Pontificial Law Printed at Venice you have many Authors inserted who treat at large of all things relating to Hereticks wherein a man may fully inform himself of those Writers I have but lightly touched I cite some Bulls that are in the Bullarium of Laërce Cher. and other Collections since But to save the labour of searching into great Volumes Alois Bariola and Franc. Pegna have made a Collection in quarto of above an Hundred Bulls since the beginning of the Reformation to injoyn direct and encourage the extirpation of Hereticks all manner of ways but especially by the Inquisition And because some might say Who regards old Bulls or Decretals And what do most of them signifie that have been long out of date We must know that every thing is in force that makes against Hereticks That we may not flatter our selves Canonists frequently tell us Extravagantes in corpore juris non clausae contra haereticos editae sunt validae si constitutionibus in corpore juris registratis contra haereticos non obvient That is That all those Laws and Papal prescripts new or old some forged some of uncertain Authors that are not digested into order and have no proper place assigned to them in the Body of the Canon are of force as far as they make against Hereticks and moderate or oppose none of the more Canonical Constitutions that are against them And we know how strictly they are executed where the Pope is obeyed and how general that execution would be if he might have his will There is a Bull of Pope Paul IV. anno 1558. whereby he very streightly commands Renovari inviolabiliter observari omnes leges decreta sive statuta à Romanis Pontificibus sacris conciliis sanctorum Patrum decretis in haereticos schismaticos quovis tempore edita etiamsi in literis Pontificum extravagantibus contineantur c. That all Laws Decrees and Statutes made at any time by Roman Popes sacred Councils or holy Fathers against Hereticks and Schismaticks should be renewed and inviolably observed even such as are among those Decretals which they call Extravagants And he commands further that if they have been upon any account disused or neglected they should now be revived and brought into use again and that they should be strictly obeyed and executed against all persons whatsoever without regard to their greatness or dignity If we believe him to be in earnest we see what would become of us and of Protestant Princes had he those that could or would put his Sentence in execution These publick and in the Church of Rome highest Authorities give greater force and credit to those lesser ones of private Writings which are licensed and allowed and are as it were but Comments upon the Text Declarations of the practice of the Church that her Laws are taught and obeyed so that all those Inquisitors Fiscalis's Consultors of the Holy Office and Canonists which have written about the Crime and punishment of Heresie are to be looked upon as the Sentences of the supreme Roman Tribunal or the executions of them Lud.